On the morning of May 22, San Francisco showed off its best side, with clear skies and mild temperatures, and made the Warriors the epicenter of the Bay Area sports world.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the Warriors' David Lee combined on a comedy skit. "It's great to be reunited with my long-lost brother, separated at birth," the 5-foot-5 politician said of the 6-9 power forward.

Warriors co-owner Peter Guber, a Hollywood mogul as well as a sports entrepreneur, showed off his unrestrained personality, talking with a thick Boston accent about his two favorite three-letter words: fun and sex.

The Warriors created region-wide buzz with little more than a news conference, a handful of artist renderings and a promise that their proposed state-of-the-art arena - costing approximately $600 million of privately financed money - would be built on Piers 30-32 by the start of the 2017-18 season.

Just imagine the attention they'll grab if the project actually comes to fruition.

"We'd like to think we can build an arena, a franchise that will attract the top free agents every offseason," said Warriors general manager Bob Myers, who, during a long run as a player agent, had free agents who didn't know where Golden State played its games. "When the money is equal, free agents usually consider the city and the facilities, but they also think about the chance to win. We've got work to do to start winning."

Lacob's legacy

The Chronicle knew the details of the proposed arena the day before the plans were released to the public. Plans for an exclusive meeting with team brass, city leaders and Chronicle staffers took shape in the early hours of May 21.

Clandestine particulars had to be arranged, because the Bay Area basketball news corps was at the practice facility observing the team's first draft-prospect workout.

The editors and writers attending the covert meeting were told to come through the parking garage, where a team attendant met them and brought them into the facility through a back door.

In the refurbished, glass offices at Warriors headquarters, a group of about a dozen reporters, editors and team officials sat down for the meeting. Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob began things by introducing the mayor. Lee's voice came over a loudspeaker and said he was proud to welcome the Warriors to San Francisco, and called the project his "legacy," admitting that he still could feel the sting of losing the 49ers to Santa Clara.

Lacob followed with a long speech on why San Francisco made sense, followed by a politic statement on how much Oakland had meant to the team. Warriors President Rick Welts mirrored those sentiments and talked about the iconic site on which the team was going to build.

Guber: It will happen

Built as separate piers in 1912, Pier 30 and Pier 32 were both extended in 1926 and then linked together in 1950 to form a single pad. Since then, at least four plans to develop the 13-acre site have failed.

Everything in the Warriors' vernacular regarding this project is "will" - no maybes, no contingencies. This "is going to happen," Lacob says. "Take that as a promise we will fulfill," Guber says.

"This has to not only be beautiful brick and mortar, but also click and mortar," Guber said. "We really have to recognize that our audience will be digitally fit, and we have to create an environment, a venue and an organization that hosts state-of-the-art technologies for state-of-the-heart entertainment."

They want to transform the long-dormant pier in the south shadow of the Bay Bridge into a spacious arena capable of hosting basketball, concerts and conventions. They want ancillary buildings to contain restaurants, nightclubs and team offices while leaving the perimeter of the pier for open public space.

It should be noted that the three players around whom the Warriors are building (Lee, Andrew Bogut and Stephen Curry) live in San Francisco, and Welts makes the commute from the city to the downtown Oakland facility, too.

The Warriors shared polling data from May 15 that showed total support for the project among city residents is 66 percent. For those who live within 1.5 miles of the site, the figure jumped to 75 percent. Both numbers climbed above 80 percent when provided a more detailed description.

That data doesn't address the East Bay fans who have flocked to Oracle Arena despite the team's perennial losing. The Warriors say half of their season-ticket holders live west of the Bay Bridge, but they've got to start winning or risk losing both sides before they open the proposed arena.

The team has continued to put money into Oracle, putting in a new scoreboard and new stadium vision/digital technology this offseason.

Win now, or win then?

Myers said he hasn't gotten a mandate on winning now or in 2017, conceding only that the obvious choice is "both." But the Warriors might be set up to make a legitimate run at a playoff spot in 2014, a time frame that could conciliate the East Bay fans and captivate those in San Francisco.

In the summer of 2014, the Warriors will have more than $20 million come off their salary cap between Andris Biedrins and Richard Jefferson. Another $20 million between Bogut and Curry could come off the cap if the injury-riddled players don't return to form or don't reach contract extensions.

By that time, the Warriors will have two more years of evaluation on Klay Thompson, Charles Jenkins and Jeremy Tyler, as well as any number of the four picks they could use in Thursday's draft. The Warriors have been vocal about the prospect of using one of this year's four picks on an international player, who would stay in Europe to develop for at least one season.

This makes the Warriors more likely to take some chances on boom-or-bust prospects. Think Connecticut big man Andre Drummond, who is equally apt at dominating and sleepwalking through games; dynamic scoring guard Dion Waiters, who didn't start at Syracuse; or St. John's swingman Moe Harkless, who probably would be a top-five pick in the 2013 draft.

"Potential over certainty is the hardest thing about the draft," Myers said. "If you're going to take a swing, you do it in the draft. It's hard to get players in trades and free agency. I don't think you want to go into a draft and look to hit a single with a high pick."

That would be like proposing an arena without putting on a scene-stealing show.

Editor's note: The Chronicle enjoyed unprecedented, behind-the-scenes access to the Warriors leading to Thursday's draft, resulting in a three-part series on how the team is being rebuilt. Part II looks at the announcement of a proposed arena in San Francisco, and how that arena could affect the shaping of the team.